Having secured a resounding success in the 100 hour war against Pakistan in Operation Sindoor, India has chalked out a high power diplomatic outreach deciding to depute seven all-party delegations comprising 59 leaders who will touch base in 32 countries. The government’s clear cut policy is to convey India’s zero-tolerance message against terrorism to key partner countries, including members of the UN Security Council.
The delegations to fan out later in May will expose Pakistan’s support for terrorism on global stage. Each delegation comprises seven or eight political leaders and is assisted by former diplomats. The seven delegations have 59 members, including 31 political leaders from the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and 20 politicians from other parties. Notably, all seven delegations have at least one Muslim representation, either among politicians or diplomats.
Here’s the full list of seven delegations and countries they will visit:
Group-1 to visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Algeria
Delegation leader: BJP MP Baijayant Panda
Members: Nishikant Dubey (BJP), Phangnon Konyak (BJP), Rekha Sharma (BJP), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Satnam Singh Sandhu, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Harsh Shringla
Group-2 to visit UK, France, Germany, EU, Italy, Denmark
Delegation leader: BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad
Members: Daggubati Purandeswari (BJP), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena (UBT)), Ghulam Ali Khatana, Amar Singh (Congress), Samik Bhattacharya (BJP), MJ Akbar, Pankaj Saran
Group-3 to visit Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore
Delegation leader: JDU MP Sanjay Kumar Jha
Members: Aparajita Sarangi (BJP), Yusuf Pathan (Trinamool Congress), Brij Lala (BJP), John Brittas (CPIM), Pradan Baruah (BJP), Hemang Joshi (BJP), Salman Khurshid, Mohan Kumar
Group-4 to visit UAE, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone
Delegation leader: Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Eknath Shinde
Members: Bansuri Swaraj (BJP), ET Mohammed Basheer (IUML), Atul Garg (BJP), Sasmit Patra (BJD), Manan Kumar Mishra (BJP), SS Ahluwalia, Sujan Chinoy
Group-5 to visit USA, Panama, Guyana, Brazil, Colombia
Delegation leader: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor
Members: Shambhavi (LJP (Ram Vilas)), Sarfaraz Ahmad (JMM), GM Harish Balayogi (TDP), Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Milind Murli Deora (Shiv Sena), Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Tejasvi Surya (BJP)
Group-6 to visit Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Latvia, Russia
Delegation leader: DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi
Members: Rajeev Rai (SP), Mian Altaf Ahmad (NC), Brijesh Chowta (BJP), Prem Chand Gupta (RJD), Ashok Kumar Mittal (AAP), Manjeev S Puri, Jawed Ashraf
Group-7 to visit Egypt, Qatar, Ethiopia, South Africa
Delegation leader: NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MP Supriya Sule
Members: Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP), Vikramjeet Singh Sahney (AAP), Manish Tewari (Congress), Anurag Singh Thakur (BJP), Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu (TDP), Anand Sharma, V Muraleedharan, Syed Akbaruddin.
In what can be called copy cat diplomacy, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to present the country’s “case for peace” on foreign capitals. Having faced a humiliating military defeat in a four-day military escalation from May 7 to 10 during Operation Sindoor, Pakistan has asked Bhutto to present its case on a global stage.
Announcing the same, Bhutto said on X that he was contacted by Shehbaz Sharif, who asked him to lead a delegation.
“I was contacted earlier today by Prime Minister @CMShehbaz, who requested that I lead a delegation to present Pakistan’s case for peace on the international stage. I am honoured to accept this responsibility and remain committed to serving Pakistan in these challenging times,” he posted on X.
Pakistan’s mimicking of India comes as the Narendra Modi government in India formed teams to visit different parts of the world. The last time Pakistan copied India was not too long ago, when their Prime Minister visited a military base in Sialkot, copy-pasting the move from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who went to Adampur airbase in Punjab and interacted with air warriors and jawans. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited the Sialkot base and addressed the Pakistani army soldiers, claiming a sham “victory” against India in the brief four-day air battle.
India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar has already made it clear that India is willing to hold talks with Pakistan only on the issue of terrorism and the Indus Waters Treaty will remain in abeyance until cross-border terrorism backed by Islamabad is “irrevocably stopped”. The only issue related to Jammu and Kashmir that New Delhi is willing to discuss with Islamabad is the vacation of the parts of the region illegally occupied by Pakistan, Jaishankar said.
On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor and carried out a series of precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure at nine locations in territories controlled by Pakistan. This triggered four days of intense armed confrontation between the two sides, using drones, missiles and long-range weapons, till they reached an understanding on halting firing and military actions on May 10.
The decision to send Congress leader Shashi Tharoor as a member of one of the delegations has been opposed by the Congress. As senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said “the government cannot include names of MPs without consulting the party. Asking for four names, giving four names, and announcing another name is dishonest on the government’s part,” Ramesh said.
Though Tharoor refrained from commenting, BJP IT head Amit Malaviya said “no one can deny Shashi Tharoor’s eloquence, his long experience as a UN official and his deep insights on matters of foreign policy. So why has the Congess – and Rahul Gandhi in particular – chosen not to nominate him ?”
However, Tharoor said he was “honoured by the invitation of the government of India to lead an all-party delegation to five key capitals to present our nation’s point of view on recent events. When national interest is involved and my services are required, I will not be found wanting. Jai Hind.”
Each delegation would comprise leaders from various political parties, including the Opposition, and seasoned diplomats.
– The writer is a senior journalist and media consultant. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda.
